The Great Monster
This is the story of a hero. A hero who represents movement, life, and action in the face of a great evil bent on inaction and stagnation. Like the heroes of old, she helped the powerless in their moment of most dire need, and removed all barriers from the path to salvation.
But this is also my story: a story of perseverance in finding this true hero. A story of attrition and frustration in the face of a great monster bent on inaction. The monster of which I speak has evolved many forms and spread itself wide across the world. From what wretched mind sprang forth the trials and tribulations I endured?
The story begins many moons ago with a great tree whose roots had grown foul. Around the pipes of the city’s sewer system they had grown, causing leaks and requiring a poor, lone citizen to pay for the repairs again and again. Finally, the citizen had had enough. The citizen called upon the power of the shining city, and with the many tools at its disposal, the city felled the tree and repaired the pipes the tree had so cruelly rent.
But so began the time of darkness…
Two ugly walls and a sign bearing the cryptic symbols “SFDPW-BUF” had been left to mark the doing of the deed. The walls blocked the path that had once lain in the shade of the great tree and marred the beauty of the surrounding land. The walls, which were hollow, began to fill with the refuse of careless travelers to the great disgust of those who dwelled nearest the new landmarks.
The poor citizen became distraught. What trick? What terrible exchange had been imposed upon him? He pleaded with the great city, but found it had transfigured into a monster. Its power could be used only for destruction. Beyond that, its sole purpose was stagnation. His pleas fell on deaf ears, and despite promises of the walls removal, they still remained.
I am but a humble lodger under the roof this citizen. In the shadow of these pestilent barricades I lived. They troubled me not, for I believed they would be removed by the great power that had placed them. Seasons passed, and I was filled with a growing unease. Great weeds grew up around the wall further marring the beauty of the countryside where I had taken up residence.
Finally, my patience tested to the limit, I could no longer abide this growing blight upon the landscape. Perhaps I could succeed where the defeated citizen could not. I called at the office of the great city, thinking my petition would reach the caring ear of someone in power. This was my first encounter with the monster.
The many-limbed, multi-headed monstrosity deftly repulses all attempts at progress while hiding behind the hollowed shells of human life it has repurposed as smiling, placating mannequins. It was one such mannequin, though I did not initially perceive this truth, with whom I spoke during this first call to the city. “A se’nnight, and they shall be gone,” a promise as empty as the speaker’s eyes. But I was placated, not yet inured to the beguiling ways of the monster. A seven-night passed under the shadow of the walls, my heart slowly sinking as the prospect of their hasty removal grew dimmer.
I called again to the great city, and was greeted again by a slave of the monster. “Your request has been transferred to another department and is in progress.” But this was meaningless to me while the great barricades remained. “Your concern has been noted.”
Twice more I called upon the city to no avail. Each time I was happily assured that my home would soon be restored to its previous beauty. Struck by inspiration, I disguised myself and made the same request to have the putrescent walls removed. Perhaps, I thought, I had gone about the process incorrectly. Perhaps making the request again with a new voice would move the city to action. This is when I first perceived the nature of the monster and its control of the city. So easily was the city, at the monster’s direction, moved to destruction of the tree. And how happy it was to allow these terrible bulwarks to mar the beauty of the land.
I formulated a plan to get past these soulless marionettes controlled by the great monster. I had learned that while they served the monster’s ends, the link was not perfect. The monster’s means of control, while effective and near-total, drained the energy from its creatures. When confronted directly and asked confidently to pass, they would take the path of least resistance and allow passage. Once inside, perhaps I could find some resistance, some pocket of energy not yet leached from the heart of the city.
And I followed through with my plan. I told the servant, “Please alert the department once more of the importance of my request,” and added, “I will be coming with you to make sure it is received and processed.” The servant, shocked and confused by this, allowed me to witness the correspondence.
This was when the hero first appeared to me. She was a warrior for truth, fighting the stagnation of the terrible creature from within its own domain. But even she couldn’t act right away. If she did not follow the protocols laid down by the monster, she could out herself.
“I will send a team by week’s end to find out who owns these barriers,” she told the servant where I could hear, not knowing if I was another seeker of progress or a malicious watcher for the monster. The week ended and no more communication was made. Perhaps she thought this was just another of the monster’s tricks.
But then, knowing now that someone on the inside was fighting for all that was righteous, fighting for the light and beauty of the land, I wrote to her in code, “Has there been any action on this? These barricades have been sitting here for months.”
As a test for me, she came and removed the cryptic symbols SFDPW-BUF, knowing that the monster would go no further with the test, if I should be but another agent of the sick beast. But I communicated once more my desire to have the barricades removed. Knowing me truly, then, as an agent for the city’s improvement, she came and removed the barricades.
More work needed to be done to remove the great weeds and refuse that had grown at the base of the walls, but once again light shown on the pathway. Once again, thanks to the actions of this great hero, we could believe in the power of progress. We had hope that the great monster, Bureaucracy, could be defeated.